Finalists for IT Support
Finalists for the Excellence Award for IT Support
- Blue Jay Enterprises – Santa Fe Public Schools Infrastructure Redesign Implementation
Blue Jay updated the Santa Fe Public Schools computing infrastructure including upgrading the network, increasing Internet performance, upgrading network security, installing new PCs, upgrading old PCs, and implementing a new email system. This solution is also a finalist for the Excellence Award for IT Infrastructure. - TIG – Thunderbird Cluster – Startup Support Services
Sandia National Laboratories’ Thunderbird supercomputer, designed jointly by Sandia and Dell, is the least expensive general-purpose supercomputer of its scale in existence. The Thunderbird cluster was initially installed in record time during a few weeks in late summer 2005. Like all new clusters of this size, complexity, and new design, it required substantial support services. SNL contracted TIG to install software, tune the hardware, and bring the system up to full capacity for production use. Thunderbird began full production operations after approximately 6 months, where similar clusters have taken 12 to 36 months to reach full production mode. - TIG – Thunderbird Expansion
Soon after installation, Sandia National Laboratories required an extension to their Thunderbird Cluster supercomputer including an additional 384 compute nodes fully deployed and installed in approximately 8 weeks. This type of cluster normally requires at least four months to deploy. TIG coordinated with Dell, Cisco, Force10, and numerous other suppliers to bring together the products, resources, and team members required to complete the project, including 16 racks, 384 servers, Ethernet and Infiniband network equipment, thousands of cables, and a large staff from more than ten companies. TIG project management coordinated all delivery and scheduling logistics, reporting, and management to ensure that the cluster expansion was completed on schedule.
Finalists for IT Infrastructure
Finalists for the Excellence Award for IT Infrastructure
- Blue Jay Enterprises – Santa Fe Public Schools Infrastructure Redesign Implementation
Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) needed to update their computing infrastructure including upgrading the network, increasing Internet performance, upgrading network security, installing new PCs, upgrading old PCs, and implementing a new email system. They turned to Blue Jay Enterprises’ IT professionals to design and complete the work between school sessions requiring that the implementation be fast, efficient, cost-effective, and non-disruptive. Blue Jay took a disciplined, programmatic approach, developing a system of carefully planned, scripted, and managed projects including a new backup system, firewall, security software suite, interactive media library, and improved overall network performance. SFPS and Blue Jay had much to accomplish in a short amount of time, with few internal resources and a tight budget. But, Blue Jay’s seasoned expertise paid off.
This solution is also a finalist for the Excellence Award for IT Support. - INX – ABQ Rapid Ride Wireless Internet
INX, Inc. worked with the Albuquerque Information Services Division to provide wireless access on the City’s Rapid Ride buses.
This solution is also a finalist for the Excellence Award for Integrated Systems. - State of New Mexico General Services Department Office of Communications – Wireless Metropolitan Area Network
The State of New Mexico General Services Department Office of Communications is responsible for providing a statewide, integrated telecommunications backbone for state government to enable inter- and intra-agency communications and ultimately help to better serve the citizens of New Mexico. The Office of Communications provided an innovative solution for high speed information services within Santa Fe by consolidating the network infrastructure and building a high capacity wireless backbone using state-owned infrastructure and resources. The backbone wireless links offer a capacity of 1 Gbps at a low recurring cost. This solution has provided significant cost savings to state government and taxpayers by eliminating costs and consolidating agency services and infrastructures.
Finalists for the Excellence Award for Integrated Systems
• INX – ABQ Rapid Ride Wireless InternetIn January 2005, Albuquerque’s Mayor Martin Chavez launched an effort to provide wireless access on Rapid Ride buses. The goal was to provide mobile Internet access while commuting and thereby generate greater use of the ABQ Rapid Ride transit system. INX, Inc. worked with the City's Information Services Division to design and deploy the system along the entire 9 mile route. Riders' mobile computers connect to a router on the roof of each Rapid Ride bus and the bus's antenna connects to a wireless network via antennae on traffic lights and other key access points along the route. The bandwidth is 54 Mbps, faster than a T-1 circuit, and the system is scalable and can be expanded easily in the future. Now riders can make Internet phone calls, check e-mail, do research, and chat with friends and co-workers during their bus commute.
This solution is also a finalist for the Excellence Award for IT Infrastructure.
• iTEAM Consulting – iSTAR Integration and Support of Claims Management Systems
EASi (Educational Assessment Systems, Inc.) is the largest private provider of therapy and diagnostic services to schools and public agencies in New Mexico. EASi needed a powerful integrated case records management systems that could be integrated with their other health systems, eliminate multiple spreadsheets and documents, be HIPAA-compliant and combine medical information and reports with a tracking system of individual patient progress, skills and incidents. iTEAM Consulting provided the connections, programs, updates, and telephone support so that EASi did not require additional staff resources. As a result of the integration, claims are paid up to 4 days faster than before, and the return on investment will be reached according to plan.
• Lumidigm – Standards Adopted Biometric Performance
When the biometric identification industry needed a more precise instrument, Lumidigm provided the technology: an anti-spoofing fingerprinting platform with algorithms that use a surface/subsurface data comparison to determine if the fingerprint presented is authentic and also improve the image quality for people that are difficult to fingerprint. Lumidigm produces superior fingerprint sensors employing its own patented multispectral imaging technology that generates more identifying data from a single fingerprint capture than any competing fingerprinting platform. However, Lumidigm's ability to integrate quickly with system integrators was limited by dependence on unique integration software for each customer. To solve this problem, Lumidigm created a uniform software interface for system integration that is BioAPI-compliant so that Lumidigm sensors can be easily interchanged with existing standards-based sensors allowing for simple integration. This project led to software that is currently being used by multiple customers including the United States Department of State to create seamless integration with Lumidigm's biometric sensors.
Finalists for the Excellence Award for Custom Software
• Apogen Technologies/Sandia National Laboratories – ATLAS - Adversary Time-Line Analysis SystemThe US Department of Energy (DOE) has made substantial investments in securing the nation's nuclear assets. Apogen Technologies, one of the largest providers of information technology services to the US Federal government, and Sandia National Laboratories developed the ATLAS (Adversary Time-Line Analysis System) to assist DOE vulnerability analysts in assessing and addressing these critical security issues. ATLAS 4 is the latest and most significant advance in Vulnerability Analysis software with features that utilize multiple analysis methods to obtain detailed information about a facility and its vulnerabilities including the most vulnerable paths through a security system. Analysts can also conduct cost-benefit analysis for candidate security system upgrades to ensure effective investment of DOE funds. Response from the user community indicates that the software is dramatically easier to use and more productive than previous versions.
• Avistar Inc. – Hardware Simulator for Complex Embedded Test Tool
Avistar Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PNM Resources, is charged with developing and commercializing technological solutions to operational issues experienced by PNM, New Mexico's largest utility company. Avistar is currently developing a complex test tool for use by utility personnel. As part of that development effort, they created a desktop environment that comprehensively simulates the embedded components of the planned tool. This hardware simulator reduced the time required to prototype, test, debug, and add quality improvements to the embedded code; and allowed Avistar to create a suite of automated unit tests, thereby improving the overall software development process.
This solution is also a finalist for the Excellence Award for Innovative Research.
• SolutionWerx – IDEAs
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oakridge National Laboratory's technology transfer divisions needed to improve their internal invention disclosure processes. Every employee signs a contract that requires that all inventions and software developments be reported on an invention or copyright disclosure form, a tedious manual process. SolutionWerx developed a web-based Invention Disclosure Electronic Application System (IDEAs) to simplify and streamline the process for disclosing inventions. This Web-based application enables inventors to create, modify, review, and submit invention disclosures electronically; and enables the legal, export and technology transfer departments to determine patentability and commercial viability.
Finalists for the Excellence Award for Commercial Software
• Asset Performance Technologies – Economic Risk Calculator and Task Optimization EngineFinancial decisions regarding spending for manufacturing plant maintenance are often based on intuition or limited, unreliable historical data. This leaves plant maintenance departments without the financial decision-making and analysis tools to justify their spending decisions. Asset Performance Technologies developed the Economic Risk Calculator to quantify in financial terms the economic risk to plant operations due to changes in preventative maintenance and reliability. The complementary Task Optimization Engine allows the optimization of preventative maintenance tasks based on their return on investment at the simple click of a button. These tools help industrial plants better manage their maintenance costs and ultimately increase their bottom-line profits.
• Figaro Systems – in-Ovation
Figaro Systems, Inc., innovators and global leaders in multi-lingual text delivery systems for the performing arts, developed their in-Ovation performance titling software for the creation and presentation of spoken and translated text and captioning of live performances. The software offers a flexible and intuitive user interface that supports the creation and tracking of titling scripts from rehearsal through timely presentation to live audiences in multiple languages. Any text or graphics can be presented to the audience simultaneously regardless of the language or presentation device. And the information is displayed instantaneously, since there is nothing worse than a punch line arriving late. Since their first installation at the Santa Fe Opera in 1998, Figaro Systems has installed their titling systems in thefinest theaters and opera houses around the world.
• Gigablast – Gigablast Search Engine
Gigablast is a small, growing software company that provides fast, efficient information retrieval services to Web and corporate customers worldwide. The Gigablast Search Engine was developed to provide high performance search capabilities with low hardware demands. It was designed to be the cheapest most scalable search engine on the market, quickly indexing billions of web pages and serving thousands of queries per second at very low cost. The search engine is accessible for free from Gigablast.com, and the company licenses the technology in several configurations to organizations that range from members of the NASDAQ 100 to boutique companies. Gigablast customers choose between hosting their own sites and receiving a custom feed from the Gigablast databank.
• Sandia National Labs/Computational Modeling Sciences – CUBIT
The Computational Modeling Sciences group at Sandia National Laboratories developed the CUBIT Geometry and Meshing Toolkit to provide algorithms that help engineers prepare geometric models for simulation. Mesh generation is a complex problem that involves breaking a geometric model into smaller elements including triangles and quadrilaterals for surface or 2D models, and tetrahedra and hexahedra for 3D models. CUBIT is a world leader in algorithms and tools for generating hexahedral finite element meshes. As computer simulation becomes an integral part of the engineering design process, the meshing and geometry tools provided by CUBIT become vital.
This solution is also a finalist for the Excellence Award for Innovative Research.
• Science & Technology Corporation at UNM – foliodirect.net
Universities have a strong need to distribute software and applications developed by faculty and staff directly to end-users. The Science & Technology Corporation at UNM developed a web-based, e-commerce solution, called foliodirect, to proactively address this need. Foliodirect is an online 'shopping center' offering licensable university technology through individualized storefronts. Visitors can browse, license, purchase, and download technologies from any participating university. The system complements existing university technology transfer platforms, allowing universities to efficiently market and non-exclusively license copyrighted materials, software, and patent biological materials through an automated, easy-to-use, web-based platform. The University of Washington, Arizona State University and Purdue University have joined foliodirect.
*The commercial software category has a four-way tie for finalists.
